As I was driving by the Lied Center this week, it looked like the pavilion, being constructed in a former outdoor garden, still had some time to go before it was completed.

• Here's a quick goodbye and good luck to Diana Carlin, a communication studies professor and former dean of graduate studies, who has accepted a post as associate vice president for graduate studies at St. Louis University.

She'll finish teaching her classes this semester here, but will be spending some time in St. Louis, too. She also won't be leaving behind any graduate students who are almost ready to graduate, either, she said.

She was always kind to me in our interactions, which stretched all the way back to my time at the University Daily Kansan in 2004, when I leaned on her knowledge of presidential debates in covering the Bush-Kerry race.

• KU’s department of Russian, East European and Eurasian studies’ Spring Festival is scheduled from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries building. It’s open to the public.

I have no idea what Russian music sounds like, but the Russian band Apollo-Soyuz probably does. They’ll be performing at the event.

A potluck dinner will commemorate a variety of Slavic holidays, including one called Maslenitsa or “Pancake Week.”

• We need a Pancake Week. Seriously, can’t we write or Tweet our legislators, or something? Tell Congress about how awesome Pancake Week would be, and tell me awesome tips for Heard on the Hill at ahyland@ljworld.com.